“I only asked you what happened and you went on babbling about your entire story,” Ryū squinted his eyes.

“Ha ha, just continue cooking while I tell you my story…”

“I don’t ever want to meet this Shirō in the future.”

I wryly smiled and laughed awkwardly. In an attempt to reassure him, I said: “Relax, what’s in the past will stay in the past. You’re the present and hopefully my future.”

“…”

Back to the flashback…

A few more days passed by and Kichirō continued going on rendezvous with Shirō. He felt some sort of elation whenever he was with the other. As they grew closer, he and Miyuki started drifting apart. Miyuki was too busy with her preparation for her graduation and college, while Kichirō used his time meeting with Shirō. He used the excuse that he was preparing for a big cosplay event with his group, which Miyuki, pretty much, bought.

Miyuki did not show a single bit of suspicion. She was the ever-understanding girlfriend for Kichirō. Unknown to Kichirō, Miyuki already had a rough overview of what he was doing…

“Wait, so you’re two-timing her?” Ryū interrupted as he served Kichirō his dinner.

“Noooo! It wasn’t like that. Let me finish first,” I became frantic.

“Heh, so my Ki-tan has his own dark side,” Ryū smirked then he messed up my hair again, just like what he always does.

“Okay, that’s enough. The readers are already getting confused. So on with my story…”

“Please have a seat. Your mother and I wanted to talk to you about something.”

For a moment, Kichirō’s heart skipped a beat. He felt nauseous and hesitated as he was about to take a seat on the sofa, just across from his parents. It was as if he already anticipated what was about to happen.

Just as he sat down, he suddenly felt a sharp, throbbing pain on his left cheek that trickled as the impulses travelled toward his brain. He felt weak and helpless, as if all of his senses were in a state of disarray. He unconsciously touched his cheek and looked at the perpetrator with his watery eyes. “What have I done wrong, Okāsan?”

“You tell me. Your father and I know what you have been doing all along. I can’t believe you have the audacity to bring shame to this family!” Fumiko loudly roared.

Akihiko was shocked about what happened. He immediately stood up and restrained his wife. Shūichirō, who was just a mere kid back then, saw this and started to cry.

“Go to your room, Shūichirō!” Fumiko pointed to the stairs as she yelled at the crying Shūichirō.

“Son, just go to your room for now. Your Onīsan will be okay, I’m here. We just need to talk to him,” Akihiko calmly said as he reassured Shūichirō.

The little boy obediently followed through and he headed upstairs as he rubbed his eyes with his hands.

“Son, is there something that you wanted to tell us?” Akihiko calmly asked as he rubbed Fumiko’s back, in an attempt to get her to relax.

“Ano…” Kichirō stuttered. Although he knew what was going on, he chose to act innocent.

“Cat got your tongue? I heard from Miyuki that you skipped school last time. You know what’s worse? My friend told me that they saw you hugging another man at the zoo. Don’t you feel ashamed of yourself? I thought we already talked about this! Yet, you call yourself smart,” Fumiko was red all over as she yelled to the top of her lungs.

“Honey, let’s hear out our son first–” Akihiko was interrupted by Fumiko.

“No! Go to your room! You’re grounded! I will personally drop you off to school and come pick you up everyday. You are not allowed to meet that man again!”

Kichirō could not utter a single word. He silently cried as he sluggishly made a bee line toward his room. From then on, his phone was confiscated and his Internet connection was cut off. Miyuki was firmly instructed by Fumiko to be vigilant of Kichirō’s activities in school.

As much as Kichirō wanted to find temporary solace in Shirō’s arms, he could not because of the watchful eyes around him.

Miyuki finally finished everything that she needed to do. She took the time to have a chat with Kichirō so she invited him to go to the local cafe where they always hung out. “What happened to you, Ki-chan? Obasan asked me to monitor you every now and then.” She pretended like she was completely unaware of the situation.

“I –” Kichirō could not talk. He had been silent the whole time since that fateful day when his parents found out everything.

“Hey, I’m here for you. I will listen to whatever you will say,” Miyuki looked earnestly at Kichirō’s eyes as she held on to the other’s hands with her pallid, cold hands.

Kichirō shrank back as he pulled his hands away from Miyuki’s. He could not even gaze at the other’s eyes — a sign of guilt.

“… I want to be honest with you Yuki-chan,” he said with a low voice.

Miyuki remained quiet, with all ears to whatever Kichirō will be saying.

“I want to break up with you…”

Miyuki was dumbfounded. She expected that Kichirō was going to tell her about his family. She did not expect that he will break up so soon with her. “Why?”

“… because…”

“Because of that Shirō?” Miyuki hastily interrupted.

“How did you–”

“I’m not stupid, Kichirō. I saw everything. I have feelings, too. What did you see in that guy? He couldn’t even give you a child. Do you expect him to give you a normal life? This crooked path would just bring pain and suffering for you in the future. Choose me. I want to be with you,” Miyuki calmly said as she had an expressionless facade. Suddenly, a bead of tear ran down her cheek.

“Look, Miyuki. I don’t want to live a lie nor do I want to fool you. I want to be honest with you. I am bisexual. Even though I am, I figured out that I’m not happy with our relationship. I could only be happy with Shirō. Please, let me go…” Kichirō gazed at Miyuki.

Miyuki paused for a few seconds. The two remained quiet for some time. Miyuki reached out for Kichirō’s face as she caressed the other’s cheek with her cold-as-ice hand. “You will definitely regret this…” With that, she stood and took her leave.

From then on, Miyuki no longer showed up in front of Kichirō. They only met in the student council office during official gatherings. Kichirō did try to approach her and befriend her. She responded to every statement that the other made, yet every response was made out of politeness. Kichirō then realized this indifference so he chose to stay away from the Kaichō.

A week has passed by since then. Kichirō felt a sense of relief even though he was still in a bitter strife with his mother. He perceived a heavy burden being lifted from his chest. That break up and confession really helped him ease up, not to mention, it made him embrace his real preference. He thought that he was ready to accept Shirō. Though it will be difficult, he was pretty sure that his parents would accept them in the future. He was wrong in many ways.

One day, when Kichirō was about to leave school to meet his mother, who was waiting by the school entrance to come pick him up, he saw, not far off, a familiar silhouette. That familiar figure, who stood across from the street, waved his hand to catch Kichirō’s attention. He did not know that he was already locked in the other’s gaze. Kichirō’s body froze when he realized that his mother was standing in front of him, ready to pick him up. Shirō was on his way to cross the street. Kichirō was alarmed because of this big chaotic event that will soon emerge.

“Let’s go home,” Fumiko ordered. Her elegance and charm made people around her stare in awe, not to mention, the beautiful fragrant flowers amongst the school garden bowed down their heads, embarrassed to see such overwhelming beauty before them.

Kichirō felt cold beads of sweat run down his back. He swept his eyes toward the smiling Shirō that was fast approaching. Fumiko immediately saw this sudden change in her son’s behavior so she followed his line of sight, only to see a smiling, radiant face of a handsome man approaching them.

“Hello, you must be Kichirō’s mother. I’m his friend, Shirō,” Shirō flashed a smile as he greeted Fumiko. He looked confident as ever as he swayed his ash-blonde bangs to the side.

“Oh, hello. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person,” Fumiko calmly said as she inwardly gnashed her teeth.

“Okāsan, let’s go home. It’s already getting late. Shirō, I can’t attend the ‘group meeting’ right now, I need to finish my project,” Kichirō felt the tension in the atmosphere so he quickly came up with a plan.

“Oh, too bad. I was meaning to invite you to an anime convention in Shibuya, oh well, ja,” Shirō made a salute as he attempted to walk away.

“Wait, I’m not yet done talking to you, young man,” Fumiko said.

“Oh, yes Mrs. Ishikawa?”

“Don’t ever come looking for my son again. I know what’s going on between you two. Because of you, Miyuki broke up with my son. Our family became a laughing stock because of your brazen behavior,” the heartless Fumiko said those powerful words with a smile, although her eyes were not smiling.

Shirō was speechless, what more was Kichirō?

“Mrs. Ishikawa, I have good intentions with your son. I will never ever hurt him. I care for him as much as you do. I hope you won’t take whatever I am about to do against Kichirō. He has got nothing to do with this,” Shirō spoke seriously as he matched his facial expression with that of Fumiko’s.

Not a second later, Shirō hastily grabbed Kichirō by his wrist and started running with the other boy. Kichirō, without looking back and without any hesitations, followed him, as if he already had an inkling of what Shirō had in his mind… as if he anticipated everything… with that, this roller coaster ride has already reached the summit, and will soon dive into the deepest of the depths…

“Oho, are you sure that really happened? You make it sound like it’s coming from a famous K-drama,” Ryū teased as he pinched my cheek.

“Cut it out, I’m not yet done. You can ask my mom if you want to,” I hissed.

“You sure about that?” Ryū flashed a side-long stare at me.

“No! I’ll take that back! Let’s continue this in the next chapter… I’m already getting lazy,” I plopped on his bed after eating a hearty meal.

“So shameless. You’re always lazy and are you sure you want to sleep with me?” Ryū grinned sinisterly.